The present invention relates to a ringing tone control method and device for a mobile communication apparatus which originates and terminates calls by transmitting/receiving radio waves and sounds a tune upon reception of an incoming call.
Conventionally, as a ringing tone to be sounded by a portable telephone upon reception of an incoming call, a ringing beep tone, ringing tune, or a single original ringing tune is set. As a method of controlling these ringing tones, the method shown in FIG. 5 is known.
Referring to FIG. 5, if a ringing beep tone is selected as a ringing tone to be sounded upon reception of an incoming call by a user in a ringing tone mode, a ringing beep tone is sounded in response to an incoming call to the portable telephone (steps S51 to S53).
If a ringing tune is selected as a ringing tone, the ringing tune is sounded in response to an incoming call to the portable telephone (steps S51, S52, S54, and S55). When the sounding of the ringing tune is completed (step S56), the flow returns to step S55 to restart the ringing tune sounding operation, thereby continuously sounding the ringing tune.
If a single original ringing tune is selected, the single original ringing tune is sounded in response to an incoming call to the portable telephone (steps S51, S52, S54, and S57). In sounding the single original ringing tune, if a memory is not filled to capacity with the single original ringing tune, the end of the ringing tune is determined upon detection of an end code or the absence of intermittent ringing (step S58). In this case, the flow returns to step S57 to restart ringing tune sounding operation, thereby continuously sounding the single original ringing tune.
If the memory is filled to capacity with the single original ringing tune, sounding operation is performed up to the end of the single original ringing tune (step i). Thereafter, the flow returns to step S57 to restart single original ringing tune sounding operation, thereby continuously sounding the single original ringing tune.
As shown in FIG. 6, when the user is to generate an interrupt for speech communication while the ringing beep tone, ringing tune, or single original ringing tune is sounded, he/she operates a start key to stop the ringing tone (steps S61 and S62), and then performs speech communication (step S63).
In the above conventional method of controlling ringing tones, however, since a ringing tune is sounded by repeatedly sounding a short phrase, a ringing tune with a long phrase cannot be sounded. In sounding a single original ringing tune, since the number of notes that can be stored in the memory is limited to a memory capacity corresponding to one tune, a single original ringing tune with a long phrase cannot be obtained. As in the case of a ringing tune, therefore, a single original ringing tune with a short phrase is repeatedly sounded.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a ringing tone control method and device for a mobile communication apparatus, which can easily sound a tune consisting of a large number of notes without increasing the storage capacity for one tune.
In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a ringing tone control method for a mobile communication apparatus, comprising the steps of storing a ringing tune in certain units in first and second areas each having a fixed storage capacity, sounding the ringing tune stored in the first area upon reception of an incoming call, determining whether sounding of a ringing tune corresponding to the storage capacity of the first area is completed, and automatically sounding the ringing tune stored in the second area if the determination result indicates the end of the ringing tune.